State appears ready to get on board with Orlando-to-Miami train

December 14, 2012|By Dan Tracy, Orlando Sentinel

The state appears set to approvea key step in All Aboard Florida's quest to build a privately financed $1 billion train to carry tourists and business travelers from Miami to Orlando International Airport.

On Tuesday, the Florida Department of Transportation will announce whether it has approved a bid by the company to negotiate a deal to lay tracks along the BeachLine Expressway to the airport.

That authorization seems likely because All Aboard Florida was the only company making a pitch for the project, and FDOT largely has fast-tracked the administrative process for it. Top officials also have spoken highly of the plan, including U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, who runs the powerful House transportation committee.

But Florida law prohibits FDOT managers and All Aboard Florida executives from speaking specifically about the proposal until the decision is made public next week.

"All we've been told is we will be notified," Husein Cumber, executive vice president of Florida East Coast Industries, said Thursday. FEC is a privately held real-estate company that owns All Aboard Florida.

The broad outlines of the plan has been known for months.

All Aboard Florida would run on tracks owned by a sister company, Florida East Coast Railway, for 200 miles from downtown Miami through stops in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach to near Cocoa. The train then would need to veer west for more than 30 miles to get to the airport.

The most logical path would be along the southern edge of the BeachLine, owned jointly by the state and the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority. But the state and authority could not make a deal with All Aboard Florida over the land without making sure no better offers were available.

The agencies sought bids starting in October, but All Aboard Florida was the only applicant.

But even if All Aboard Florida wins approval, it will not be easy getting the right of way, which it wants for free.

The expressway authority, which owns 24 miles of the BeachLine from near the Brevard County to just west of the airport, eventually hopes to add two more lanes in both directions, plus at least two new interchanges.

Authority Director Max Crumit said his agency is willing to give the land for free but is unlikely to bargain away its expansion rights.

"We pretty well know what we need them to address," Crumit said. "It's pretty much up to them."

The interchanges could be problematic because the train most likely would have to go either over or under the roadwork. And that is expensive, with some estimates ranging as high as $30 million a mile to elevate or dig. Laying track along level ground could cost $5 million a mile.

All Aboard Florida officials initially projected a start date in 2014, but since has indicated that date might slip to 2015. Cumber would not discuss the reason for the change.

Cumber also would not say whether the train would pursue federal loans for some of the track work.

"We are keeping our options open now and haven't made any decisions," he said.

All Aboard Florida is meant to compete with airlines flying between Orlando and South Florida. The train trip — with a fare of about $100 each way — would take about three hours, as opposed to four hours by car. Top speed could be 125 mph.

Construction could start as early asnext year, if agreements can be reached with the state, the expressway authority and the airport.

"We are working to get this project delivered to Florida as quickly as possible," Cumber said.